Crate Labels
One of my prized possessions is a label from the estate of my grandfather, J.J. Corley [“When Crates Became Canvases,” April 2014]. It was used in his sweet potato business in Van Zandt County. The Yam What Am was a very well-known brand from Grand Saline to El Paso in its day.
Danny Pickens | Whitehouse
Cherokee County ECA
Your article brought back wonderful childhood memories of my grandmother cooking on a cast-iron wood-burning stove in the early 1950s in Waco. My grandfather would break up the thin wooden crates that held Ruby Red grapefruit or oranges to use as kindling.
As a small child, I enjoyed playing with the crates and looking at the colorful labels, especially if a horse was featured.
One correction to the article: Assault, owned by the King Ranch, was a thoroughbred and not a quarter horse. Only thoroughbreds can compete for the Triple Crown.
Dorothy Head Powell | North Zulch
Mid-South Synergy
Editor’s note: Our reader is correct. King Ranch breeds quarter horses in addition to thoroughbreds. The Triple Crown races—Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes—feature only thoroughbreds.
Wonderful article. I didn’t know these were collectible. I have more than 50 crates with the labels on them in my storage room. My favorite two are the ones with the Indian and the other a picture of an old candlestick telephone.
James Hearn | Blanco
Pedernales EC
Don’t forget one of the best things about those crates—homemade carts/scooters.
Peter J. Jackson | Dallas
Wild Pigs
I’ve been hunting in Texas since 1957, when I joined the Air Force and went to Lackland AFB for basic training. I was from New York and fell in love with Texas.
I’ve seen the pig problem grow, and Grow and GROW! [“Here a Pig, There a Pig,” April 2014] But one thing I have not noticed is landowners calling for responsible hunters to set traps or hunt pigs with shotguns, which is fairly safe for hunting where there is livestock to consider.
My experience is that if you lease their land to hunt deer you are free to shoot pigs, but otherwise, there is no access. If the problem is so bad (and I know it is), it seems advantageous to consider giving responsible hunters access for pig trapping and hunting.
Luis Vigo | Los Fresnos
Magic Valley EC
It makes it hard to sympathize with the ranchers and farmers when you ask one about the opportunity to maybe hunt a pig on their place, and they tell you, “I’ll HAVE to charge you to kill a pig.’ Well, no, you don’t. You can also keep your pig problem.
There are thousands of low-income hunters who don’t get the chance to hunt big game. By demanding fees, the big landowners hurt themselves and leave a lot of potential hunters with a bad taste in their mouth.
Mike Franklin | Poteet
Karnes EC
While the article dealt with the negative side of the wild pig population, there is also a positive side to it.
We have a 7,000-acre deer lease with a healthy population of wild pigs. They don’t damage anything on the ranch other than rooting up the cactus, and that’s really a good thing. They do no damage to pastures or wheat fields other than what they eat. They provide year-round hunting for us when other game species seasons are closed.
Hunting keeps some control on the numbers and always provides entertainment for family members and guests from as far away as Kansas City, Kansas. Ranchers are realizing income from pig hunting leases, day hunts, contests, etc., from having pigs on their property.
Carl M. Silvey | Decatur
Wise EC
SMU and Ford
I don’t know about the Ford executive, Lee Iacocca, naming his Mustang car after the SMU Mustangs, but my son, Mike Ford, brought Mustang mania alive in 1977 and 1978 [“Mustang Mania,” April 2014]. He was a Ford, driving a Ford truck, and he was the Mustangs quarterback.
Molly Ford | Bagwell
Lamar County ECA
Worth Reading
I immensely enjoyed “Aggie with a Secret” [March 2014]. One of the most impressionable movies that I watched as a young boy (63 years ago in San Antonio) was “A Place in the Sun,” starring Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor. After reading Jerome Loving’s article, I realized that it was based on that famous crime and Theodore Dreiser’s novel “An American Tragedy,” which I am now reading.
Thanks for sending me back to the library.
Charles Postlewate | Granbury
United Cooperative Services
Butterfly Benefits
I, too, raise these delicate and beautiful butterflies in my backyard [“The Butterfly Midwife,” April 2014]. It is clear that Susan Hayden Kennedy has a love and respect for these miraculous creatures. It is so important to our ecosystem to keep them alive, healthy and flourishing because they make such a contribution to our cross-pollination.
Shanda Deweese | Greenville
Farmers EC
